The biggest factor working against Mouse Hunt may be its chilliness. Like some of the Coen brothers' work, it's so stylized that it often keeps you at an arm's length instead of sucking you into its whirlwind.

Parents need to know that children will identify with the fuzzy little mouse, as the Smuntz brothers try to kill it, so there may be some fear when the brothers almost kill it several times with a variety of implements, including a nail gun. The mouse fills the house with gas later and blows the brothers sky-high.

Families can talk about why we laugh at cartoonish violence.

The good stuff

Messages: Agitated brothers turn on each other.

What to watch for

Violence and scariness: An exterminator gets brutally dragged (and somewhat bloodied). Cartoon-style mayhem; Three Stooges-style head-bashing with frying pans and other household wares. One brother points a loaded shotgun at the other's face.

Sexy stuff: Reference to "making love." Spooling machines unravel a man's clothes, leaving him without a stitch (he covers himself appropriately). A man stuffs his arm down a woman's dress when a mouse disappears in her cleavage.

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